


Unwanted Friendship

by SMRJ_103 (ShaunaBananaaa)



Series: Unwanted [2]
Category: Twilight (Movies)
Genre: Multi, will add tags later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 16:08:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5096885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShaunaBananaaa/pseuds/SMRJ_103
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex is now dealing with her moms death, the best way she can, and that is proving to be very difficult. With the fact that she killed her mom, to bring her best friend back, which did work, but things between Melissa and Alex are different. For starters, Alex can barely look at Melissa, without remembering that Melissa is the result of the death of Alex's mom.<br/>Melissa is different too. She's not human, and she's not a vampire. She's a corpse. A living, dead body. So she must be a zombie right? No. A zombie is a mindless, gross walking corpse. Dead, but walking. Melissa is still very smart, and keeps clean. There's also the fact that she is neither dead or alive.<br/>In this installment, you see Alex trying to figure out what exactly Melissa is, struggle with confusing feeling about Alec, deal with her dads over protectiveness, and try to get over her moms death, in a respectful way.<br/>If you liked Unwanted Love, then you wont want to miss it's great sequel Unwanted Friendship, where everything has changed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> CONTINUATION OF UNWANTED LOVE!  
> Not a fic on its own

It's been just over a year since my mom died and Melissa came back. Things have been different. I've accepted the fact that my moms not going to be there for me to just go and talk to. It's just when I really want time with my mom, that's when it gets hard.  
My motorcycle wouldn't start the other day, and I had to find a shop, to bring it to. It was upsetting, because normally when my car, or bike broke down, or if they had any problems, I'd go to my mom, and I couldn't do that. I can remember the look on my dads face when I told him about my bike. Like he was about to tell me that he wasn't the one to ask, to ask my mom, and then he remembered.  
They say the parent needs to stay strong for the kids if something really tragic happens, a close family member dies, or a pet. They say the parent needs to act strong. I've never seen my dad like this before. You can tell he's trying, and you can tell he doesn't blame me in the slightest. But my moms dead, and my dad thought he would have her forever. Or they would at least die together. But he's now living without her, and he's coping well.  
A part of me likes to think it's because my mom would come back just to yell at him for not getting over her death, and scare him, as my mom would often do when she was mad. But I know that's not the case. He's holding it together, as a parent would. He doesn't want it to constantly bring me down, so he's keeping it together for that fact.  
And Melissa. Well, I don't know what's going on with her. She lives with my family now, so it doesn't make complete sense that I don't know what's going on with her, but I don't. She sits down privately with my grandpa once a day, so they can try and figure out what's going on with her. It's really weird. She doesn't sleep, she smells like nothing, she cant breath.  
She can't consume anything. My grandma made human food for her, the first night, and as soon as it went in her mouth, it was out again, within seconds. She couldn't bring herself to chew, or anything. So my grandpa thought it had something to do with the fact that she died, she has no heart beat. Vampires have no heart beat. So he tried different kinds of blood. She couldn't swallow it, like there was a block in her throat. That's not the craziest part. Before she tried consuming the human food, the blood, she would shy away from it, as if it would harm her in a way.  
She doesn't like water. My grandma tried giving her a nice bath, on that first night. It did not work. She refused, and fought against going anywhere near it. Not that she really needs showers or baths. Because like I said. She smells like nothing. She can't sweat, she doesn't produce bodily oils, she's always like she just got out of the shower.  
She looked different. Not much, but not like a nerd any more. Her curls weren't as frizzy all the time now, and because she didn't produce bodily oils, she didn't get blemishes, her face was smooth. Her hair was shiny, in the newly washed, very clean, kind of way. Melissa couldn't get her clothes, so she wore mine, the ones I never wore. So she dressed with better style. You would never have guessed she looked like a complete nerd before.  
No one knows what Melissa is, what's going on with her. She's dead. She doesn't breath, she has no heart beat. My grandpa clearly stated that she was dead. He said he would officially pronounce her dead, if she weren't walking and talking. She's dead. That's all we know.  
We also know that she is not a zombie. Why that was thought of, I don't know. But she isn't. Zombies are mindless slow-moving, foul-smelling corpses. Melissa is not. Melissa has a mind. She's just as smart as before she died. She moves at normal speed, maybe faster then the average human. Again I say, she has no odour. She also talks normally, properly, and does not grunt or moan like a zombie. So no one knows what she is, my grandpa is trying to figure it out, with no luck.  
Alec left about two weeks after my mom died. Just up and left, no explanation. No warning. No good bye. It was as if he were never here in the first place. If I didn't know he was there, have memories including him, I would never have thought he was here.  
I won't lie. It hurt when he left. I didn't know where he went, if he was coming back. It hurt. I didn't know how to deal with it, my mom dies, my dads an empty shell, and then Alec leaves. So I was left alone. I wasn't ready to go and sit, and talk to Melissa at the time, so I was left alone. Just two weeks after my mom died.  
He came back though. Last month. He's gone for eleven months, and then comes back. Let's just say, I was hurt. My grandma let him in, he looks at me, and somethings different. But I didn't take the time to figure it out as I walk out of the room, to a separate room.

 

“Someone's feeling a little cold today.” Melissa says, as she follows me out of the room. I turn around, and look at her. I didn't know why she followed me, but it was probably because she never liked Alec in the first place, and he did kill her. And whenever I felt down, sad, angry, stressed, any negative emotion, she followed, to try and calm me down.  
“It's not my fault. But I don't want to talk about it here, where everyone can hear. I want to get out, but I don't know where to go.” I reply, sighing.  
“We can go out. Like we used to, go shopping, get our hair or nails done. You don't have to stay in you know.” She says, and I look at her.  
“How are we going to do that, when you're still learning how to show signs that you're alive?” I ask her.  
Melissa's eyes darkened, narrowing slightly. “I'm alive. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't.” She says, and something about her scares me. But almost as fast as she got scary, she was back to normal. “Sorry. You know how I get when people bring up that I'm, well, dead.” She says, looking at me.  
I nod slowly, calming down. “Yea, I do. It's just, it's not smart for you to go out, until you can improve your living appearance. Not to mention everyone in town THINKS you're dead, and most people attended your funeral.” I reply.  
“Alright, so stay in.” She says. “We can go for a walk, where cant people see me.” She says.  
I am about to reply, when my grandpa comes in the room.  
“Melissa, can I ask you some questions?” He asks, looking genuine, and calm.  
I look at Melissa, to see as her eyes darken for just a fraction of a second, before going back to normal.  
“Sure.” She says, and walks out of the room, my grandpa following.  
Not a minute passes, before I hear him approach, and I refuse to turn around, I refuse to look at him.  
“She looks ... different.” He says, and I roll my eyes.  
“Yeah, she died and un-died. Remember?” I ask, and didn't give him time to answer, as I walk out of the room, before he can. At least I tried to. He grabs hold of my arm, and turned me around, and looked down at me. It was then that I noticed what was different about him. His eyes. I couldn't explain how, they were still red, but not the same shade of red as they were before.  
“You are angry. I understand. And I apologize for leaving so abruptly. There were things that I had to take care of.” He says, and I narrow my eyes.  
“What things? What things were so important, where there was no 'I have to leave for a bit, but I'll be back.' What things could have you disappear out of no where?” I asked.  
“I did not know if I would make it back.” He reply's and it hurt. I didn't like that it hurt.  
“Right. Let me go.” I say, and he did, and I walked away, and up to my room. It was getting late, and I was getting tired. I was just afraid that I would wake up, with him right there, just like he was, the very first night he was here.  
Alone. That was one thing I wanted.  
Alone.

 

I sit in my room right now, not wanting to see or be near anyone. I wanted to be alone. But knowing my luck, whenever I wanted to be left alone, is when everyone decides to bug me. So I locked my door. I remember when my mom said no locks on my door, but after she died, I put one on there, so I could sleep alone, I could be alone.  
I look up, as there is a knock on my door, and I sigh. I stand up, and walk over to the door, and open it. I immediately regret, and and glad I opened the door.  
Everyone knows now, how mine and Alec's relationship is. Whether they like it or not, it's out of their control, and mine to I guess. Since every time I see him, my heart jumps. It's annoying as hell, everyone knows it's happening, and I can't control it. It was those damned two weeks, when I refused to spend any time with anyone but him, when I was in Raychels hold. The memories of those two weeks, it was over whelming, and I didn't know how to deal with the memories and the feelings.  
But yes, every time I see Alec, my heart jumps, or skips a beat. It doesn't matter how mad I am at him or whatever. It happens, every damn time.  
But he rushes in, closes and locks the door, and I raise an eyebrow, confused. I was about to ask what was going on, when he spoke.  
“It is you're birthday.” He says it as a statement, not a question. Whatever I was going to say, is gone now, as I just stand there, a confused look must be on my face, as he goes into explaining.  
“I over heard your father speaking. About your mother. How she would be missing your birthday. He said it was a special one, because turning ten is special, with double digits or something. So I remembered you talking about how you really wanted to go to a skating show. So there is an event happening in Seattle, and I got this.” He says, and takes a single ticket out of his pocket.  
A single ticket for the most anticipated skating show of the year. I can't help but smile a bit, and a second later, I notice I am, and compose my face, to get rid of the smile.  
“A ticket. Only one? Isn't there supposed to be two? For someone else to go?” I ask, looking at him, and his face, which was one of pride, and not the snobby pride, but the kind of pride that's really cute when you try to do something to impress someone else, hoping they will be happy. But that look of pride just washed away, and it was replaced with a look of embarrassment, embarrassed that he failed to know this fact.  
I smile, rolling my eyes. “Another ticket can be bought. Thank you, I do appreciate it. I'm surprised you remembered, as it's not something someone would remember about me.” I say, smiling calmly.  
He looked at me, with a look of relief, and smiled a bit.  
“I'm still mad at you, don't think I'm not.” I say coolly, looking at him, and then smiled, this time speaking more calmly. “But thanks again.” I say.  
When I realize he isn't going to leave, any time soon, I go and sit down on the window sill/seat, looking out the window, as he stands there.  
“Why is it a big deal, when someone turns ten? It is a number, and there is a lot of talk about you turning the 'big ten.' I do not understand, how is it such an accomplishment?” He asks, confused.  
I look at him as he asks this, and think. “I don't really know. I guess, your leaving this phase where you're considered a little kid, single digit age, and with the double digits, I guess you can do more stuff. You're not classified as a little kid anymore.” I reply.  
“You were not a, little kid, as you say, last year.” He says. “And you were eight.” I look at him, and shrug.  
“Yea, well I grow fast. Not a little kid, but yet I still am.” I reply.  
“I am sorry I missed your ninth birthday.” He says, and I frown, looking away from him, back out the window.  
“You disappeared one year ago today. On my ninth birthday. The hardest one of my life. My mom was gone, my dad was half there, everyone else pushed the enthusiasm to a level where you could tell it was fake, they were trying to make me feel better.  
I knew it was stupid, but I was kind of hoping you were out, getting a gift. That's when the kid in me shows. When it's time for presents. That's when I forget how old I am, mentally, and just let go. Be the kid I really am. My birthday is the one day a year, I can act my age, and not be told to act right.” I explain.  
“So part of me was hoping you were just out, getting a gift, and would be back, so there would be some form of real, and comfort that day. Two weeks after my mom died, I wasn't ready to be alone. You left that day, and I was left all alone on my birthday night. I cried myself to sleep.” I tell him, without looking at him.  
I didn't hear anything then. I almost thought he walked away, so I looked up, and he was standing there, a look of guilt on his face, mixed with confusion.  
“I did not mean to -” I cut him off before he can continue.  
“Please, spare the explanation. Explanations only make it worse.” I say. “You're back. It's not like you left, with no plan on returning. And here you are.” I say, looking at him. “You came back. Which means there's something here you like. Something worth coming back to.” I say, while looking out the window, yawning.  
“There was. I still have a job to do here. I still have to look after the hybrid, and make sure they do not do anything to reveal our existence.” He says, and I could feel something sink. Either my heart or stomach, I don't know. One minute he's giving me a birthday gift, looking so hopeful that I would like it, and then goes back to referring to me as a hybrid.  
I won't lie. It hurt. I don't want to be known for being a hybrid. I want to be known for who I am, not what I am.  
I frown, and refuse to look at him. I close my eyes, trying to ignore the pain. If I ignored the pain of his words, than hopefully there would be no tears. And tears are the last thing I need in this situation. I don't want to seem weak.  
I take a deep breath, and still wont look at him. “I'm tired. I want to rest.” I say, sounding calm enough where hopefully he wouldn't realize how his statement hurt me. But I didn't hear him leave.  
“I had to go back. Explain what happened last year. With Sadie. Aro wanted to know what happened. He killed her, but he wanted to know the reason why he did.” Alec says, and I still wont look at him.  
“I said that Sadie was a threat, had killed one of your family. He does not know you exist, not from me at least. Whether any of the others told him about you, I do not know. But I did not tell him about you.” He says, and I continued looking out the window.  
“I am also thinking of leaving the Volturi, whether they enjoy the idea, or not.” He says, making me look over at him.  
“What do you mean?” I ask. “What do you mean, leave them?” I look at him. Now it was my turn to be confused.  
“I mean, I do not want to be a part of their coven anymore. I want to leave.” He says, and I just look at him, completely shocked.


	2. Chapter Two

I looked up at Alec, shocked. I've never heard of anyone who purposely left the Volturi. There probably were some, but I couldn't think of anyone. You wanted to leave, you died. Except for Raychel. According to Alec, Aro let her leave, thinking that she would calm down, and come back.  
  But she didn't. She stayed powerful, and dangerous, and evil. So, she ended up dying, and that was a relief on me.  
  “Why?” I ask, looking at him, getting my mind back on topic. Alec said he wanted to leave the Volturi, leave, and not go back.  
  “Aro thinks he is doing right, keeping the vampires in line, and he is. If not for him, there would be many more deaths over the years. As he does right by that, he does wrong behind closed doors. He does wrong by those who break horrible laws, before he kills them. Sadie for example, he enjoys torturing those who break laws. Those who put our kind at risk of exposure. He does not like the vampire community to know about this, though he does it. Before he does kill them, he makes them suffer. And that, is not right.” He says.  
  I look at him, and sigh. “Everyone knows that they do good things in all the wrong ways.” I say, looking up at him.  
  He is about to speak, when there is a knock on the door. I turn to look at the door, and see Melissa standing there.  
  “I have a birthday surprise for you. But you have to come with me.” She says, looking at me, and I looked at her, slightly confused, but I smile anyway.  
“Alright.” I reply, looking at her.  
  Before I walk out of the room, I look up at Alec, and almost tell him I'd see him after, but I didn't say anything, as I walked forward with Melissa.  
We were walking for a while, went outside, and out into the forest. We were walking for about twenty minutes before she stopped, and turned to look at me.  
“I figured something out. I've had an ability, since I was born. But completely forgot about it, after I met you. But I remember now, I can do something for you, that you would be really appreciate, if not now, then in the future. Don't ask me how I can do this, because I don't know. I've never known. But I can.” She says, smiling.  
“What? What is it you can do?” I ask, looking at her, even more confused.  
“I remember you saying once how you wished you had more time as a child. I didn't know what you were talking about at the time, but now I do. Also, you mentioned that the only time you can truly act like you, act your age, is your birthday, and be able to get away with it. You want to be who you are, not what you're physical appearance makes you out to be.” She says, going on.   
I sometimes get lost with what she says, when she's excited about it now. No longer needing to breath, she doesn't take a pause to take in air like she used to. Now her excited rants are all thrown together.  
“I don't understand you. Talk slower.” I say, and she looks at me, and smiles.  
“I can give anyone, there deepest wish. Don't ask me how, because I don't know. And you're grandpa said to make sure no one else knew. He said I could tell you, so I can give you a birthday surprise, but not to tell anyone else. He says that if the information got in the wrong hands, I would be in trouble.” She says.  
I nod, understanding that. “Understood, but what are you going on about? You keep going on and on, yet I don't know what your talking about.” I say.  
“It doesn't work if you simply wish for something. It is your deepest wish. Even if you don't know that it is, that's what get's granted I guess.” She says, smiling.  
“Melissa! What are you talking about? I have no idea. Can you calm down, and explain slowly? So then I can understand more clearly and-” I couldn't finish speaking, before she touched my forehead, and a sudden pain grew throughout my whole body. I couldn't cry out, because I could barely open my mouth.  
The pain started from the outside, and then worked it's way in, it lasted about ten minutes. I can't describe it, the pain was like nothing I've ever felt before.  
And when the pain faded, I stood up tall, keeping my eyes closed, trying to figure out what just happened.  
“Well, I didn't realize that was your wish. This is going to be difficult to describe.” I hear Melissa say, and I shake my head, and open my eyes, and look up at her. But what surprised me, was that I really had to look up, to see her. I know I'm short, but last time I checked, Melissa wasn't that much taller than me.  
“What are you talking about?” I asked, and as soon as I spoke, my hand flew to my mouth. That's not how I sound. I don't have that high of a voice. My eyes widen, as I look around me, only to notice that it wasn't just Melissa who seemed taller, but everything. Everything was taller than they were before, and it confused me.  
I took my hand away from my mouth, and looked up at her. “What did you do?” I ask her, still very surprised by the fact that I didn't have my normal voice.  
“We should go see your grandpa.” She says, any trace of her excitement, and smile gone now, which really had me worrying. Melissa never frowned, like this. She then started walking off, and I sighed, and turned around quite fast, to where my hair flew out and around as well.   
I stopped in my tracks as something else didn't look right. My hand flew to my hair, and lifted it up, so I could see it clearly, and again, my eyes widened.  
“You mean to tell me, that my deep dark wish was to shrink, get a new voice and change my hair colour?” I ask, looking at her, holding up my hair. My hair, which was once long blonde hair, the same as my moms, was now brown. Not just any brown though, the deep shade of brown that my dad's hair was.  
Melissa then muttered something quietly. Just loud enough where I could hear clearly before, but now I had a harder time hearing. But I did hear a few words. “A lot ... ... that. ... ... trouble.” But I didn't have time to question her about it as she grabbed my arm, and started quickly dragging me behind her, going back to the house.  
I nearly tripped a few times, over my pants, and when we got there, I was surprised to find out that I was out of breath. It was all very confusing.  
Before we walked in, she turned to look at me, opened her mouth, then closed it again, deciding not to say what she was going to say. She then dragged me behind her, again really fast (When did Melissa get this fast?) inside, and didn't stop at anyone, who all seemed surprised, then looked at Melissa, confused.  
I thought my dad would stop Melissa to find out what was going on. But when he didn't it left me confused. He was just looking at Melissa with just as much confusion as everyone else was.  
We got upstairs, and Melissa told me to wait outside my grandpas office, as she had to talk to him quickly, and then went in, closing the door, leaving me there, alone, confused.  
Why can't I think of anything better to say then confused? I know there's other words to describe it, but I can't think of any, and that's just another thing that's annoying me. No, not annoying, slightly less mad. Why can't I think of the word? I was standing there, when the door opened, and I looked up to see Melissa. She turned around, and walked in, leaving me standing there.  
“Come in and close the door.” I hear my grandpa say, and so I stepped inside, and did close the door, and looked up at him.  
“What's going on? Do you know?” I asked my grandpa, and saw his eyes widen when I spoke.  
“I can't do anything to fix her unless it's what she really wants to go back. I didn't know this is what she really wanted, and by the looks of it, neither did she.” Melissa says.  
I look at my grandpa as he crouched down in front of me. Was I really that short now, that he had to  _crouch down_  in front of me, so I would be able to look him in the eyes, without looking up. It was really starting to scare me.  
“Melissa, go get Emmett, tell him to come up here, and tell everyone else to leave. Out of hearing range, for the rest of the day. Then you come back up, understand me?” Grandpa says, as he looks at Melissa.  
I saw Melissa nod, and walk out of the room, and then I look back at my grandpa, and he looked different. He looked like he would if he were trying to calm a child down.  
“What's going on? Please tell me you know.” I say, looking at him, frowning.  
“That's what I'm going to figure out.” He says in a calm voice.  
He then proceeded to ask me a bunch of questions, look in my eyes with a light, test my pulse, my reflexes, he did everything he would normally do for any human who went in for a check up. What he did when I was growing up.  
He measured my height, he measured my weight, he asked me hard questions. He did a lot of stuff, which only confused me. Why was he doing all this stuff?  
Just then the door opened, as my dad walks in, followed by Melissa. My dad doesn't even look at me, he just looks at my grandpa.  
“What's going on? And who's the girl?” He asks, and my grandpa stood up straight again, and looked at Melissa, before looking at my dad.  
“Melissa has an unusual ability, that she forgot about when she met Alex, and just remembered after she was brought back. She wanted to use her ability to give Alex a birthday surprise that she deeply wanted.” Grandpa says, looking at my dad.  
“Alright, but what does that have to do with what's going on?” He asks.  
“Melissa gave Alex her, wish,” My grandpa chose the word carefully. “And this was the result.” Grandpa said, and put a hand on my head gently.  
I noticed how my dad looked at him confused, and looked at me, even more confused.  
“What confuses me most, is why her hair colour has changed from blonde to brown. It doesn't fit with what's going on.”  
“What is going on Carlisle?” Dad asked, trying not to show annoyance.  
“Melissa has given Alex what she deeply desired at that moment. Alex is now, physically, a fully human, ten-year-old child.” Grandpa said, and paused for a second. “And is slowly mentally becoming one as well.” He finished.  
My eyes widen. “What? What do you -” I start saying, and that's when it hit me. Every year, on my birthday, the one thing I always want, is to be treated my age. Where I let go of how old I am mentally, just so I could be the child I should be. I had just explained it to Alec not even an hour ago. I took a deep breath, frowning.  
“I did this. It's all I want on my birthday, every year. To be able to be a kid. To have the child hood that I never really got to have.” I say, frowning.  
My dad was looking at me, and then looked at Melissa. “Can a dead thing like you, feel pain?” He asks, calmly.  
Melissa was looking at me, as she answered. “Yea, but it takes a-” She was saying before she got cut off, as my dad grabbed her by the neck. “Some psycho had my daughter, kill my wife, without her control, to bring you back. Not only did I have to get used to the fact that my wife was gone, and not coming back, I've had to see your face, daily, in place of my wife's.” He says, and I could see that Melissa was hurting, my dad must have been gripping really hard. I then looked away, frowning, but still heard him.  
“Jasper has a hard time controlling his hunger when he's around humans on a daily basis, we all do. Not to mention that there is a vampire living here who ONLY drinks human blood, who almost killed you twice, and then did kill you, simply because of the fact that you were a human, in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He says, getting louder each moment. “And now you go and turn my daughter, who is completely independent, and could look after herself without help, into a human child. Not only is it going to be a pain in the ass to keep a constant eye on her, and our hunger, but she is going to be annoyed constantly with all the times she'll need someone else's help.”   
I could tell my dad was really mad when I heard him walk away, and then glass shattering. I opened my eyes, and looked up. My dad was standing at the other side of the room, in front of a broken window. I then look around, and walked over to a mirror, and saw a girl standing back, watching me.  
A girl with long brown hair, with a small face, slender features. A small thin nose, small lips, smaller teeth. The girl was much shorter than I was, and clearly not the same.  
The only thing that stayed the same though, was my blue eyes. Icy blue. This girl, how long did I have to see her face, before going back to normal, back to how I was?  
 _“I can't do anything to fix her unless it's what she really wants to go back.”_  I remembered Melissa saying, and frown more.  
I turn around, and look at my dad and grandpa. I took a deep breath, frowning more. “I don't wanna be like this.” I say, and look at my dad. “I wanna go back to normal daddy.” I say, as tears fill my eyes.


	3. Chapter Three

It's been about four months since my birthday. Four months since Melissa made me a human kid. And let me say something. I don't know why I ever wanted to be fully human, or have a full childhood. It's not as fun, or fulfilling as I thought.  
After the initial shock, which lasted a whole day. A whole day of an unfamiliar hunger as everyone tried to figure out what happened. Forgetting that humans need to eat actual food. I was hungry for a whole day as my family adjusted to the change.  
But back on track. After the initial shock, everyone kind of accepted the fact. I would like to say that no one treated me differently. But I would be lying. It would be the biggest lie I've ever told to be honest.  
My dad's even more protective of me now. If he knew someone was hungry, or needed to hunt, he wouldn't let them in the same room as me. He even stayed away from me when he was hungry.  
Alice loved the 'new me' as she called it. It meant she could get rid of all the clothes I had gotten myself before, including me favourite leather jacket, claiming that they wont suit my new body when I grew up.  
And seeing her throw my jacket away, I threw a 'tantrum' which lead to grandpa wanting to see me weekly. Apparently I'm not just physically ten now. Apparently I'm slowly starting to get into the mind set of a ten-year-old, and that scares me.  
People still forget that I need to eat, actual food, and since everyone's so protective of me now, they aren't letting me do anything on my own, that could harm me. So, I can't make my own food. I wouldn't even know how. So there are days where I have to remind someone that I need to eat.  
My dad was right. I do find it, insanely annoying, that I can barely do anything on my own, and that I have to depend on others to help me. Ten year old human girls are annoying. I am nearly two feet shorter than I was before Melissa changed me.  
That's another thing. I haven't really seen Melissa. She's here, but I'm not really allowed to see her. I wouldn't want to see her alone anyway. Who knew what else she'd do to me. It scared me, and I didn't like the fear.  
And then there's Alec. He is one person who hasn't changed since I did. And I am so happy he hasn't because everyone acting different around me now, it's gotten to much. So I tend to be around him more than anyone else, except my dad. Alec's become a good friend.  
Can't go past that, like we kind of did before I changed. And whatever 'feelings' that were there before, haven't gone away, except I blush now, my heart doesn't skip a beat, or jump anymore. I blush. And that, is about ten times worse.  
And the blushing doesn't only happen with the 'feelings' or I guess it's a 'crush' now. But that's not the only time I blush. It happens when I'm embarrassed, when I'm nervous, when I'm the centre of attention. So, basically, all the time. And my dad's really annoying about it. I remember he'd bug Bella when she was human, and whenever she blushed. Well, I'm his kid, so it's worse.  
Being a ten-year-old girl is not fun at all. I don't have the air for help when I need it. I can't do anything without someone hovering over me, and the worst part, I have to go back to school. My dad and grandpa have been talking about it. I've already graduated high school, and now I have to go back for elementary school. And I hated school, and everyone knows that.

 

And that's how we got here. At the elementary school in Forks. My dad and I. Waiting to enrol me. And he's hoping I can start today. I'm hoping they don't let me in at all. But I know that's not going to happen.  
“Emmett McCarty, the principal will see you now.” The secretary says, and my dad stands up, and I look down. I don't want to be here, but I know I have no choice. So I just sit there as my dad goes behind a door, to sign paperwork to have me start school.  
“Why don't I show you around, while your dad's in talking to the principal.” The secretary says, and I look up at her, and sigh.  
“Yea, alright.” I say, and stand up out of the chair. The secretary leads me out of the office, and takes me down one of the few halls.  
“You're eight?” She asks, looking at me.  
“Ten. I'm short, I know.” I reply, without looking back.  
“Right, sorry. So, you'd be in grade 5 then? That's down this hallway. I'll bring you to meet your teacher, and classmates. Then one of your classmates will take the tour from there.” She says, and I look at her, right before she stops, and knocks on the door.  
I look up to see a guy open the door. He seemed young for teaching. And he also seemed very familiar, though I couldn't put my finger on it.  
“Mr. Damon, this is your new student. Alexandria McCarty.” She says, and I look up at him. He had dirty blonde hair, and green eyes, and a smile that seemed to be friendly enough.  
“It's Alex.  
“Well, Lexie, I am Mr. Damon. I'll be your teacher.” He says, holding out his hand. It takes me a second to realize, he's trying to shake my hand. So I grip his hand, and shake it.  
“I understand that you have chosen someone to give Lexie a tour of the school?” The secretary looked in the teacher's eyes for a second to long. It wasn't a connection I was familiar seeing, and I didn't like it. It was almost like how Melissa would look at Raychel, after I knew that Raychel was Sadie.  
“I do. Paulina, why don't you take Alex for a tour of the school.” The teacher looked at a girl, with shoulder length brown hair, with bangs right across her forehead, and glasses. The girl stood up, and walked towards me.  
“Hi. I'm Paulina, let's go, so we can get back before recess.” She says, and starts to pull me away.  
I just barely hear the secretary speak to the teacher. “This is the closest we've gotten to Melissa yet. Tyson's working on it. So calm down Mar-” And then I couldn't hear anything, but the girl beside me.  
“You nervous?” She asks.  
“Yea. I've, uh, never been to elementary school before. I've been home schooled until now.” I reply, looking at her.  
“Don't worry. Mr. Damon doesn't put up with any form of bullying. So you should be fine.” She says, and I look at her.  
“Neither do I. I'm able to stand up for myself.” I say, looking around, when I thought I saw something out the window. No, not something. Someone. Me?  
I walk to the window at the end of the hall, and look out, just in time to see some blonde hair. It disappeared as quickly as it had shown up.  
“Alex, are you okay?” Paulina walks up, and I turn around, and nod. “Yea, I'm fine. I just wanted to see how big the school yard was.” I say, and smile.  
“It's not that big. There's not many people in the school, so it's a small yard. But there's still a lot of space to run and everything.” She says.  
I nod, turning back to the window. I then turn back to her, and smile.  
“Paulina! You dropped your permission slip!” A guy says, running over to us.  
“Permission slip? For what?” I ask, looking at her.  
“Yea, this schools lame. You need your parents permission to go to the school dance. Kindergarten to grade four, go for an hour before lunch, and dance in a class line. Grades five to eight, get to have an actual sort of school dance. After lunch until the end of the day. But if you don't have your permission slip, you can't go.” The guy says.  
“And, you are?” I ask, looking at him.  
“That's Matt. Go back to class.” Paulina says, before turning around, and walking me away from the guy pretty fast.  
“Your permission slip!” The guy- Matt, calls after us.  
“I can get another one from Mr. Damon!” She says, and then turns us through a door, and into what looked like the washrooms.  
“What was that?” I ask, looking at her.  
“Matt. Fourth grader. He likes to keep to himself, my brother.”  
“Wow.” I reply.  
“Yea, and he doesn't know how to leave me alone.”.  
“I don't know how siblings are. I'm an only child.” I say.  
Paulina waits for about three minutes, before leading us out of the washroom again, but this time, she walks down another hall, and stops at the end. There are doors, that must lead to the gym. The only way I knew that was because of the signs on the doors.  
“That dance is next week.” I say.  
“Yes. And it's a Halloween dance.” Paulina then goes on about explaining how the dances work, better than her brother did.  
“If your dad's in talking to the principal, he's probably getting a form for the dance as well.” Paulina finishes her explanation, before walking back to the class room, when the 'tour' was finished, and when we got to the class, the rest of the kids were putting books in their desks, and waiting.  
“Recess is about to start, you can come play with me. I normally just play the game 21 with my friend. It's a different kind of basketball game. Have you played?” She asks.  
“Maybe next recess Paulina. Alex needs to stay in this time so we can talk, with her parent's as well.” The teacher says, just as a bell rings, and all the kids walk out, including Paulina.  
“Here, this will be your desk.” The teacher says, walking me over to a desk, just as the class door closes.  
I turn around, in time to see my dad. He seems calm, though I wish I still had a connection with the air, so I could find out how his meeting with the principal went, since my dad could keep calm in serious situations.  
“Ah, Mr. McCarty. My name is Marcus Damon. I will be you're daughters teacher. Is you're wife not going to join us?” The teacher asks my dad.  
“My wife passed away a year and a half ago. So no. She wont.” My dad replied, and I looked down.  
“My apologies. I didn't know.”  
“It's fine.” Dad says, and I look up.  
“I understand that Alexandria has been home schooled.”  
“It's Alex.” I say, though they don't hear me.  
“She has. My wife and I, we moved around a lot and never stayed in one place to long, so Alex had to be home schooled. I settled down just recently, my final move for now, so I can get over my wife's passing, without work stress.” My dad explains.  
“Well, I'm here if she needs help with any of her school work.” Mr. Damon says.

 

It turns out I don't start school until tomorrow, so after my dad and Mr. Damon spoke, my dad walked me outside to the car.  
I don't waste a second before I start speaking. “They're looking for Melissa.” I say.  
“I know. I want to know why.” My dad says, an edge to his voice, that wasn't there a few minutes ago. I wasn't surprised by it. My dad doesn't like Melissa, and he get's that edge whenever he's talking to, or about her.  
So, I sit silent, until we get home, and I walk inside, and sigh.  
“How are you?” I hear a familiar voice behind me, and I turn around, and look up at him.  
“Hungry. Where's Melissa?” I ask.  
“I'm right here. What's going on?” I hear, and turn to see Melissa standing there, as my dad looked at her. She knew something was going on, since she didn't get looks from my dad that often.  
“Who are Marcus, Carmen and Tyson?” He asks, and I notice Melissa's facial expression just drop.  
“Ah, Crap.” She says, and then shook her head.


	4. Chapter Four

“They are dangerous.” Melissa explains, after everyone had sat down in the living room. And that one sentence lead into a long story, that I had a hard time paying attention in. I wasn't that interested. So I didn't really pay attention. It wasn't until she ended her story that I looked up, and started paying attention.  
“There were seven of us, we are considered more dangerous than you. We had abilities that were never heard of in your kind, or the human kind. They didn't have a name for our kind, they didn't consider us humans, or any other typical creature. So they numbered us. They wanted us, and if we refused to go with them, we would die.” Melissa finishes.  
“Who wanted you?” I hear my grandpa say, and before Melissa could answer, I hear another voice answer.  
“The Volturi.” Everyone looks at Alec as he answered. “That is why you disliked me when we met, you knew who I was. You feared I would turn you in. Five was the most powerful, lived long before we came to be. That's the reason you're here now, isn't it? One body dies, and you are born into another. Five was to die. You weren't supposed to live.” Alec explains.  
“You killed my friends. I knew you somehow when we met. But my memories had been taken, and when my life was taken, my memories came back. I did nothing, you killed my friends. You killed me.” Melissa stood up.  
Alec stood up as well, and there was something there, something that I hadn't seen since he had choked, right after I had finished high school. It was a scary dangerous glow, that made his red eyes, more red than usual.  
“Three, Six and Seven were casualties. They had a choice, you were the one who wasn't supposed to have any. You may not know it right at the moment, but you're abilities stretch far more than simply giving people their deepest wishes. You were supposed to die.” Alec says, in a very scary calm voice.  
“We have names. We're not just some numbers, we have actual names!” Melissa says, getting angry.  
“None of you know your birth name. You change your name constantly to avoid being found. You were all born in Voulterra. All under the watchful eye of Aro. He refused to give you actual names, making it where your name was an assigned number. And at a certain age, you were all to enter a home, where he could watch you all carefully, see how much power you all had. If the seven of you lived, and used your abilities to their full potential, the world would end. You all are far to powerful to let live!” Alec says, in the same scary calm voice. If he was talking like this, then the whole situation must have been worse than anyone thought.  
“You especially Five. Hundreds of years ago, when you were born for the first time, you had more power surrounding you than any of the others, you were the most powerful with every life.  
I saw how Melissa tried to walk past Alec, and then stopped. It took a second to realize that Alec had grabbed her arm.  
“Let, go of me!” Melissa says, trying to struggle out of Alec grip, and surprisingly, no one got up to stop him. Not even my grandma, and she would have, but no one did.  
“You're not going anywhere. I know how you work. I've dealt with you in your past lives. Every life, you're the same. You always go and hide, once you're found out. I'm not letting you go anywhere this time Five.” Alec says, and I can see as he tightens his grip on Melissa's arm even more.  
They stand there for a second, before Alec looks at my grandpa. “Is there anywhere to her away? Trust me, now she knows that we know, she will get more dangerous, in hoping to get away and live. That is all they think about, living. Whatever it takes. They won’t sacrifice much. Only everyone else's safety, none of that matters to them, especially this one. She'd gladly push you all down, so she could live.” Alec explains.  
That's when my dad stood up. “I know where there's one.” He says, and I look up. He turns around and I stand up as well, and my dad tenses, and turns around, looking at me. “You're staying.” He says, and I shake my head.  
“I'm going. I need to talk to Melissa.” I say, and right before he is able to talk again, I shake my head. “I'm going. There's no stopping me. Either I go talk to Melissa, or I walk out the door, and leave. I'm not staying somewhere, when no one will let me do anything.” I say, looking at him.  
“Acting just like your mom, more now, than before.” My dad says.  
I look up at him surprised, but then I started walking, before he could change his mind. I wouldn't look at my dad, in fear that I wouldn't like the expression on his face. I knew what the expression would be, anger.  
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The walk was longer than expected, so, not used to walking so much at one time, my dad had to end up carrying me, but we finally got to this place where Melissa’s apparently going to be staying for a while. It was way underground as well, which surprised me.  
I was allowed two minutes alone with Melissa where I could talk, and my dad and Alec were not allowed in hearing range. Two minutes, and that’s all, no longer.  
So I was sitting here with Melissa and looking at her. She looked like Melissa, but now that I could see, she didn’t. Her hair was different, less frizzy, some freckles were going away, her face clear.  
She was looking more alive, than she was last year. It was then that I realised that she must be changing, and when she was done, that her supposed new life would start.  
“Do you remember your. um, ‘past lives’ at all?” I ask, looking at her, studying her. She may have changed and I may not have been close with her in a while, but I could still tell when she was lying.  
“No.” That was the only reply I got.  
“Liar. You DO remember the past! So you must remember what it’s like to go through what you are now. You’re becoming someone new. And then your friends won’t find you. You don’t want them to find you. So you purposely got killed, knowing you would change, or not come back as soon. I didn’t need to kill my mom, you would have come back anyway!” I accuse her.  
It was at that moment when a breeze picked up out of nowhere and I looked around.  
“Still in tuned with your element I see. Otherwise you wouldn’t have guessed all that. You’re right. I don’t want the others to know I’m here, and I’m glad I’m stuck down here, for now. The others are more powerful than me. They are still alive. They still have control of all their abilities. Stay away from them and don’t let them know you know me. They’d do anything to get me back.” Melissa says simply, before she refused to speak anymore.  
I noticed that the reason was because my dad was back, so I turn around and walk off.  
“Alex! Are we still friends?” I hear Melissa ask hopeful, and I stop. It was then that I took my hair, my very brown hair, out of its elastic, and, without looking at her, I answer.  
“You did this to me. How can we be friends, when you changed me?” I ask, before continuing to walk off. Deep dark wish or not, it’s only once a year I wish it. I would never actually want to be like this, and now I am. And yes, immature as it is, I blame Melissa for it.  
The way back out from Melissa’s cell was steep, and I was too tired to concentrate, so my dad ended up having to carry me again. I wasn’t really paying attention to where we were going until we were home, when dad set me down.  
Too tired to do anything else, I went upstairs towards my room and when I got to my room, and turned my light on, about to go change into some PJ’s, did I notice something. Everything was gone, and not hidden gone, where furniture was still there, but gone. The room was empty, with all but a single box left.  
“WHERE IS ALL MY STUFF!?” I yelled, still standing in my bedroom door. The room looked so huge and empty, and I didn’t like it. And the worst part wasn’t that my stuff was gone, but that I was actually, honest to God, CRYING because of it.  
The tears were running down my face, and I am sure I was making those awful noises that crying kids makes, and I hated it so much. Why was I crying, I couldn’t stop and it sucked.  
That’s another thing that has changed since my birthday. My emotions were out of control, a sad movie had me balling and everything. I got scared way to easy and when I was angry, I had uncharacteristic tantrums. Being human sucked.  
The first person who came to my cry was my dad. That was normal, and then it was my grandma, and then surprisingly Alec. It was my grandma who spoke, while my dad hugged me.  
“It’s at a different house. You’re dad came to us, saying he was going to move down to the town with you, so you wouldn’t be so overwhelmed by everyone here. And after today, with how Alec is going to get in contact with the Volturi, let them know about Melissa, and her friends, it’d be best if you weren’t here when that happened.” Grandma explained, and I shook my head.  
“Bu-B-But I don’t- I don’t wanna m-m-move!” I stutter through the crying. “I, I wanna st-t-stay here!”  
“Shh, you’ll still see everyone, but it’s safer for you if you weren’t here.” Grandma explained.  
“But-B-But m-m-moms here!” I reply, breaking down even more, thinking that I’d have to move away from all the memories of my mom, into a place where she wasn’t. She was dead, yes, all my memories of here were here, the best ones were here in my bedroom.  
It was then that I was lifted up, and carried away from my room, and I just buried my face in my dad’s shoulder, crying to the point where I was having a difficult time breathing, but I couldn’t calm down enough to catch a good breath.  
“She’s tired, it’s normal for her to act like this, when she’s as tired as she is right now.” I barely hear my grandpa explain as I’m crying, now sitting on the couch with my dad, crying until the sobs turned into yawns, and before I knew it, I was sleeping.  
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            When I woke up I was in an unfamiliar room, but it had all my stuff. I knew right away, because I was on my bed.  
            Stretching, I sat up, and looked around. It was a small room, decent size, but small compared to my room. I immediately knew I wasn’t at home, but where ever my dad had decided to move us.  
            So I got out of bed, and walked to the window, and frowned when I noticed we were very high up. It wasn’t even a normal house we were at. It was that apartment building you were lucky to get into in Forks, and by the looks of it, it was high up.  
            I frowned, before walking out of the room, and looking around. I noticed right away which room was my dads, but I knew the bed in there was simply for show, but it was bigger than mine. It had two doors that lead into it, and it connected to the washroom.  
            I went and looked around some more, and found my dad in the kitchen, clearly making food for one.  
            “Not fair, bringing me here while I was asleep.” I say, frowning, while looking around. “I don’t like it.”  
            “It was the only way to get you here. Now go and get dressed, you start school today. And don’t look at me like that, you’re going, no if’s ands or buts.” My dad says, and I frown. I’m about to say something when he looked at me, and I decided better, and listened to what he said.  
            I got to the room with my stuff in it, and went to the closet and opened it, and frowned the second I saw its contents. Pink. And if it wasn’t pink, it was dresses. I didn’t like it.  
            It took about ten minutes alone to find a pair of shorts, and matching shirt, before walking back out to see my dad. “I don’t like it. That’s all pink and girly!” I complain, before sitting at the table, which didn’t look familiar, and started eating, “I want to go home, and I don’t care what anyone says. I’m not calling this place home.”  
            I was almost finished my breakfast when I felt something in my hair, and I stop, and turn around.  
            “What are you doing!?” I ask, looking back at my dad, as he’s messing with my hair.  
            “What everyone else does, you’re late, so I thought -” He starts before I interrupt him.  
            “NO! The last time you tried to do anything with my hair, it got so knotted up, it had to get cut. Stay away from my head!” I say, and literally jump away from him as he moves his hands back down.  
            “Fine by me.” My dad says, and moves to get a school bag.  
            “You’re nervous. Why? Is it because you don’t like this place either? Can we go back home?” I ask, hopeful, only to be disappointed when my dad shakes his head.  
            He was becoming a dad-like dad. Not the fun dad I had my whole life, but very dad-like. And many people would want that, but I didn’t. It normally meant something was going to happen when he got like this. Good or bad, almost like he was trying to impress someone.  
            “I’ve just never had to do this, so I’m a little new to it. It will take some getting used to.” He explains, and I frown.  
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            I was on time, and that was a surprise. I went into the class, and sat in my desk just as the teacher came in. I didn’t realise my leg was shaking before someone asked me.  
            “First day nerves? That’s understandable. At least Mr. Damon didn’t make you get up and give five facts about yourself.”  I look towards the voice across from me, to find Paulina. I didn’t realise until now that the desks were arranged into groups of four.  
            “He does that?” I ask, looking at her.  
            “To every new student. He’ll most likely ask you to do so before the days over.” The boy next to me says. “I’m Max. And that’s Den, and you already know Lina.”  The boy, Max, says.  
            “Den? What kind of name is that?” I ask, looking at the boy beside Paulina.  
            “Short for Breaden. But Brayden G. over there was here first, so he gets the full name, and Den’s the name Max gave me. Everyone calls me Den. Well, everyone except Mr. Damon. He likes using full names.” The boy, Den explains.  
            “And everyone calls me Lina, because I don’t like the Paul part. It came from my dad, who’s never home, who prefers work more than family time.”  
            “I’m-” I start to say, before the teacher starts talking.  
            “Half an hour to get caught up on your group projects on History. You’re research should be done and you should be starting do the write up for your project.” And with that, Mr. Damon went to his desk and started doing whatever elementary teachers do.  
            “Group projects here are done with the kids in the desk arrangements. You can’t choose who you want to work with. Max, Den and I are behind everyone else, because we were short one person, so Mr. Damon is giving us an extra day than the other groups before presentation.” Paulina, em, Lina explains.  
            “Max, are we meeting at your house today? My parents are gone and tonight and I’m stuck at whoever’s until they get back.” Den looks at Max, waiting.  
            “No. After the volcano we did for science last month, mom said no more projects at my house. Lina?”  
            “My dad’s home, he won’t let anyone over, because it gets to loud and he can’t focus on work. How about you Alex? You’re in our group now, can we go to your house to work on our project?” And then three sets of eyes are on me.  
            Dad wants to move us away from home without asking me, so I’ll return the favour. I smile.  
            “I don’t see the problem there. My dad keeps telling me I need to make friends.” I say, smiling. “What’s the topic?”  
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            “Hi Dad! School was fun! Lina, Den and Max are coming over to work on the History project. Their parents know already, so, lets go!” I say, with a big smile on my face.  
            “Alex, we were going to your grandparents for dinner tonight, you knew that.” Dad says, and I smile.  
            “Well, I just saw them yesterday, and besides, we live in the same town as them now, so, reschedule. This projects due on Thursday, and our groups way behind, we need to get caught up, so we’re doing the project every day after school at home.” I say.  
            It was then when I whisper, so only my dad can hear.  _“You made me go back to school, and moved me away from home, so I’m doing what a normal human kid does. Invite friends over without asking you.”_  
            It was then my dad sighs, and tells us to get in the car before calling Grandma and telling her we can’t go over. One thing my dad forgot about me, is not to change too much on me, or it will backfire on him.


	5. Chapter Five

             “How do we finish it if none of us have the special boards?” I ask, slightly confused.  
            “Mr. Damon has them. We just need to ask him tomorrow when he lets us work on the project.” Lina replies.  
            “So now there’s nothing else to do, but call to get picked up.” Den looks at Max, as he’s speaking this. “My parents think I’m at your house.”  
            I must have looked confused, because I got a whispered reply from Lina.  
            “Den’s not allowed at girls houses, or anyone’s house except Max’s really, unless his parents meet the kid and their parents. It’s really stupid.”  
            “Hey, Dria, who’s in the picture?” I hear Max call, and it took me a second to realise he was talking to me.  
            “That’s not my name!” I say, not answering his question.  
            “Dria sounds more girly than Alex, and well, you’re girly. I saw your room and it’s all pink and fluffy.” Max explains.  
            “With Max, you don’t really get to choose what he calls you. Den refused to answer to ‘Den’ for a week before he accepted that Max wouldn’t call him anything else.” Lina explains.  
            “You didn’t answer my question. Who’s in the picture?” Max calls out again, and so I walk over to see what picture he’s talking about.  
            I was surprised to see that it was Melissa and I, the old me, but still me. It was taken the day we graduated, I couldn’t answer right away, and when I was about to, my dad answered for me.  
            “That is Alex’s sister and her best friend. Her sister’s April and her sister’s friend is Melissa.” My dad explains in a clean cut lie.  
            I enjoyed seeing Max jump, not noticing my dad standing behind him. And it was Den who asked the next question.  
            “Where’s your sister now Alex?” He is looking at the picture, before turning to look at me.  
            “At school, in some state, She never told me where.” I say, shrugging, before turning around and walking back to the living room.  
            “Harvard. It was her dream school. April always let on that she hated school, and refused to admit that she wanted to go off to University, but I’d find little pamphlets for Harvard. The computer had a history with looking the school up. So, after their mom died, April applied, and got in.”  
            I stopped, and turned around. I didn’t let anyone know that, I even tried to keep it from myself. So much was going on months ago, it slipped my mind. I didn’t know dad knew that.  
            “What’s she studying again dad?” I ask.  
            “Law. The laws from where we came from are unfair. So she wants to be a lawyer for those who can’t afford one in cases.” My dad explains, and I sigh. I didn’t know he knew so much.  
            “Does Dria want to go to Harvard also?” Max asks.  
            “Dria?” My dad asks at the same time I try and correct Max again. “It’s Alex.”  
            Realizing Max was talking about me, my dad smiles. “I would believe so. Alex is so much like her sister it sometimes gets hard to figure out who’s who.” He jokes, smiling. “Go on and work on your project.”  He continues.  
            “We’re done. We can’t do anything else until school tomorrow.” I say, looking at dad. “Den’s going with Max, so Max has to call his mom, and Lina has to call her parents.” I say, looking at him.  
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***  
            Half an hour later, Max’s mom arrived to get Max and Den. The only thing I didn’t expect was the weird looks she gave my dad. The fact that my dad invited her in to talk was even more weird. So, my dad and Max’s mom were in the living room talking, as Max, Den, Lina and I sat in the kitchen eating.  
`           “She needs to stop this.” Max says, shaking his head, watching his mom.  
            “Stop what?” I ask, confused.  
            Den was the one who answered, as Max was just staring at his mom, not touching his food.  
            “Max’s parents got divorced, about a year ago. Well, his mom never really got over it, and when his dad just got re-married, she’s been trying to find a guy who can make Max’s dad jealous, so he’d come back.”  
            “No guy has wanted to hang out with her, as she has three kids though.” Lina adds.  
            “Well, my dad won’t budge. Even though my mom died, he won’t even look at anyone else in that way, so I don’t think my dad will co-operate.” I say.  
            “It will.” Max says, and then speaks louder. “Mom! Mark’s going to freak if you’re not back. Mary will throw a fit. We need to go. Den needs to get to our house so he’s there for his parents to get him!  
            “I have spoken with Breaden’s mom, she believes that we are going out for dinner, and I will drop him off when we are finished.” Max’s mom explains, and I watch the interaction.  
            “I don’t see Mary, so Mark is obviously babysitting her. He’ll freak mom! I don’t want to listen to him complain!” Max continues.  
            “Mark had to work tonight, so I hired a babysitter. I told her I would be about an hour.” Max’s mom shoots back, and gave him a look.  
            “Well, I apologize, I did not realize you were planning on bringing the boys out for dinner, I already made some. You can come in and have some as well, if you want to, or wait for them to finish up.” My dad explains, and I narrow my eyes, confused. My dad’s looking at her weird.  
            “What’s that?” I whisper, and look at Lina. “Why is he looking at her like that?” When Lina shrugs, I turn to look at Max, and he’s too busy staring at his mom, so I look at Den.  
            “You’re a boy Den, why is my dad looking at Max’s mom like that?” I ask, and Den looks at me.  
            “It’s because she wants him to. She wants to use him to make Max’s dad jealous. It’s just how it is, and it looks like it’s going to work.” Den explains, and then everyone he and Lina start talking when they realise that they won’t get anything from Max or I.  
            “So, you have kids other than Max?” My dad asks, as he sits down on the couch with Max’s mom, trying to start a friendly conversation.  
            “Yes. I have a teenage boy and then a six-year-old girl. How about you? What’s your family look like?”  
            “Uh, at the moment, it is just Alex and me, my oldest daughter is away at university.” My dad explains.  
            “And their mother?” Max’s mom pressed on.  
            “Uh, she is no longer with us. She passed away in a car accident about a year and a half ago.” He explains.  
            “Oh, I am so sorry. It is difficult enough being a single mom. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to be a widower with children. At least your girls are okay.” Max’s mom feigns sorry and empathy.  
            “Mom! Den and I are done! Den needs to go home so he can go to sleep! He’s getting tired!” Max calls out.  
            “No I’m no- OW! Yea, I’m getting tired, I really need to get home!” Den lies.  
            “OH! I’m sorry, get your shoes on, and we’ll go.” Max’s mom explains, as she stands up with my dad. “Thank you for feeding them.”  
            “It really wasn’t much of a problem. I’m used to feeding the girls friends.” Dad explains. “It was nice meeting you...”  
            “Anna.” Max’s mom, Anna, introduces herself finally. “And since our children have become quick friends, we should be seeing each other more often.” She says, and I roll my eyes.  
            “MOM!” Max calls out, as he and Den are waiting at the door.  
            “I’m coming!” Anna says, and walks to the door, my dad following.  
            “Thanks for dinner Mr. McCarty.” Den says, before putting his school bag on his back.  
            “See you guys tomorrow. Bye Lina, bye Dria, bye Mr. McCarty! Max says, as he pulls his mom out the door, and with a final goodbye, my dad closes the door.”  
            “Dad! What was that?” I ask, looking at him from my spot at the table.  
            “What? We were speaking as your friends were finishing eating. A friendly conversation between one parent to another.”  
            “That was by no means, a ‘friendly’ conversation!” I say, looking at him.  
            “Yes it was.” Dad replies.  
            “Sorry, Mr. McCarty, but no, she was flirting with you, girls don’t talk to guys like that on a normal basis.” Lina explains, looking at my dad, before taking another bite of her spaghetti.  
            “See! That was a flirty conversation, not friendly conversation!” I say, and look at my dad.  
            “Hey, Lina, it’s been an hour since you called your parents, do you want to try again?” My dad says, in attempting to change the topic.  
            “Yea, um sure.” Lina says, and gets down from the table and walks over to get the phone to call her parents again, while my dad sits at the table. He wasn’t saying anything, I could tell he was suspicious with how Lina reacted and how her parents haven’t gotten here yet. I could tell he was listening in to make sure that everything seemed fine, so I just sat there, and finished my own spaghetti.  
            Lina finished her phone call, and turned around slowly and came back to the table, looking at the floor. “My dad’s not feeling well, and can’t drive, and my mom is out working all night.” She says, sounding ashamed, though one look at my dad, I can tell that it wasn’t the case.  
            “Well you are welcome to stay here if you want to. It’s not a big deal. We’ve got a guest room you can stay in.” My dad says, looking at Lina, and she looks up, surprised by the offer.  
            “Are you sure? I do not want to be a burden.” She says, and my dad shakes his head, smiling.  
            “It’s no big deal, really. You can stay here whenever you want, it’s not a problem with me, don’t worry.” He says with a friendly smile.  
            “Thanks Mr. McCarty, really.” Lina says, smiling, while looking at him.  
            “You’re welcome. Alex, why don’t you go find a pair of night clothes for your friend to wear.” Dad says, before standing up, getting the dishes and bringing them to the sink.


	6. Chapter Six

           A month had passed, and since then, Lina had been staying most of each week here. Friday night until Monday night, and Wednesdays after school, to which she would proceed home by walking.  
            I was curious as to what her home life was like, but Den or Max never asked and so I thought the topic wasn’t worth speaking.  
            Today was Tuesday, and Lina would be going home, and I would be going to my grandparents. But the bell was about to ring, and Lina had been called to the office about thirty minutes ago, so maybe her dad picked her up.  
            I didn’t question it until the bell rang, and I went to go get my stuff to leave, and when I went outside, I saw my dad waiting. So I walked to the car when I heard my name, so I turned around to see some kid in my class, Tori or something, hold out a paper for me to take.  
            “Alex! Are you planning on going to the mother/daughter tea party? The information’s on this flyer.” She says, holding it out to me, and I just stare at it. “Oops! I forgot, your mom’s dead, so you can’t go. But don’t worry you can play with your loser friend Paulina. Her mom left and never came back. Isn’t that right Paulina?” Say’s Tori as she looked over my shoulder.  
            “My mom works a lot, she didn’t leave. Now leave Alex alone, you can’t bully people for things they have no control over. It’s not her fault her mom died. Just like it isn’t my fault my mom le- works a lot. You’re nothing but a bully, which means you won’t have as good a life as us. Come on Alex.” I finally turn to see Lina standing there, just as she grabs my arm and pulls me behind her, with a limp she didn’t have when she left class.  
            “You’re limping, and you have a bruise on your arm, are you okay?” I ask, looking at her, causing Lina to let go of my arm, to cover the bruise on hers.  
            “I’m fine. I tripped, and landed on a door on my way to the office earlier.” Lina says when we get to my dad.  
            “What’s going on?” My dad asked.  
            “It was just a bully picking on Alex because her mom died. As if it was her fault. I have to go home. I’ll see you tomorrow Alex.” Lina says before trying to walk off, before my dad gently grab’s Lina’s arm.  
            “You want a ride-” My dad starts, but the question’s lost when we both see Lina flinch and gasp in pain. My dad drops her arm, and looks to see the bruise and odd shape of it. “What happened?”  
            “I tripped, I need to go home.” Lina explains, going to leave again, before my dad caught her again, this time on the shoulder.  
            “You don’t get that from a trip. Come on, I’m going to bring you to get checked out.” My dad says. “Get in the car.” He says, opening the door for Lina. It takes a few seconds, but Lina, deciding she could trust my dad, gets in the car and he closes the door behind her. One look to me makes me get in the other side before my dad gets in, and pulls away.  
            “I can’t go to the hospital, I don’t have a health card on me, and you don’t need to pay.” Lina says, sounding scared.  
            “We aren’t going there. My grandpa’s a doctor, and he has everything he needs at his house, and we were going there today anyway.” I explain, looking over at Lina, and then my dad. “They do know we are coming right?” I ask, and look at him.  
            “Yea, the company they had last time won’t be there, you don’t need to worry.” My dad replies, knowing what I was talking about.  
Alec had managed to get more Volturi members there because of Melissa and her friends, but so far they haven’t done anything about them, just sat and observed. My dad makes it clear that they aren’t to be there when I am, so all the Volturi members leave before I get there. Well, all except one, but my dad seems to be fine with Alec staying.  
            The ride was silent then until we got home. Yes, I still think of this as home, because it is. I still hate living away from here.  
            Forgetting about Lina, I got out of the car and started running up the drive way, before hearing my dad.  
            “Alex!”  
            I turn around and see him, seeing Lina get out of the car, before remembering. “Sorry!” I call out, as my dad gets the two school bags, and Lina limps her way over. When she catches up, I do what I can to help her up the stairs.  
            “This is where your grandparents live?” Lina asks, looking up at the house. “It’s so big!”  
            “Yea well they have someone from the family over all the time. So they need the room.” I say as we get to the front door, which I open it, and walk inside. The front foyer has all the pictures of the family, so Lina went right to looking at them as my dad came in, setting our bags down.  
            “Dad, where’s Grandpa?” I ask, looking at him.  
            “I am going to go get him, wait here.” He says, before walking off.  
            “Is this your family?” Lina asks, while looking at the pictures.  
            “Yea, this is the family.” I say, walking up beside her to look at the pictures she was looking at.  
            “Your sister and your mom look so much alike, like they could be sisters.” Lina says.  
            “Many people thought they were. Our family doesn’t physically age. It’s a medical mystery actually. Come the early twenties, all signs of ageing stop. Even I don’t understand it.” I hear my grandpa say, causing Lina to jump, I'm not admitting I jumped too, but I didn’t know my grandpa was there.  
            “You must be the famous Lina that Alex talks so much about.” My grandpa says, holding out a hand.  
            “Uh, yea, I am.” Lina replies, shaking my grandpas hand.  
            “I am Alex’s grandfather, and I hear you are here specifically to see me. So why don’t we go upstairs to my office, and I’ll take a look at your arm.” My grandpa says with a warm smile. Lina must have looked to me because I then hear my grandpa say, “Alex will be here when we are done, come on.” He says, leading her to the stairs, and then even I hear his office door close.  
            I then turn, to leave the front foyer, when I see him standing there, and all I can see is Melissa’s body drop to the ground before I am brought back to the present.  
            “No!” I say, before running over to him, and start to push him out of the room, and into the living room, all the while shouting out the same word, over and over again, until we get to the living room, and I stop pushing.  
            “I do not understand.” He says, looking at me, a confused look on his face.  
            “The last time you met one of my friends, you killed her.” I say, refusing to look at him.  
            “I thought you have gotten past that.” Alec responds, looking at me. I knew there would be more confusion on his face, that’s why I didn’t want to look back at him. I didn’t want to feel bad for the way I reacted.  
            “Yea but,” I couldn’t think of anything else to say, so I continued looking down. When I noticed he tried to walk past me again, I stopped him, and pushed him further back then where he was standing to begin with. “No stay here!” I say, now looking up at him.  
            “Why is it that she can push you around wherever, and you let her, but when anyone else does so, you throw them across the room?” I hear a voice behind me.  
            “Because she is Alex.” Alec responds without missing a beat, and I could  _feel_  my neck turn red at this.  
            “And I am Renesmee, and you are Alec. No duh she’s Alex.” I turn to see my younger cousin who is now physically older. “What I mean is, Alex expresses her emotions outward and always has. When she is happy or excited, you let her hug you. When she is angry, you let her yell, hit, kick. When she is upset, again, you will let her hit you. When she is scared, you let her hide behind you. All this stuff you let her do, but when anyone else tries, you throw them across the room, throw a big hissy fit, and refuse to speak for a week, and will only glare at anyone.” Renesmee explains.  
            “Because she-“  
            “Is Alex, yea I get it, she’s Alex, and everyone just loves Alex. Alex can do whatever she wants, whenever she wants. Everyone else, no, they get consequences for their actions.” Renesmee says, and I stand there watching as she walks away, before I look down.  
            “I’m sorry.” I whisper, before going to sit on the couch. But this is how it was, when our roles were switched when I was the older one, and everyone crowded around her, and she was the perfect one.  
            And now I’m the small one, where my feet won’t even touch the floor when I sit on the couch, and I hate it. I want to go back to being normal.  
            I sat there silently, not wanting to talk to anyone, wanting to be alone. I was aware when Alec sat down on the other side of the couch, but didn’t press me into any conversations, so when he did speak, about fifteen minutes later, suffice to say, I was surprised, as normally when I am like this, I am the first to speak.  
            “Do you wish to continue making your hat with rubber elastics?” He asks, looking over at me.  
            I look at him, confused. “Why do you ask?” I ask.  
            “It is just that normally when you are angry or upset, you make things with your rubber elastics and they help to calm you down.” He says, and I look at him a minute more. “The wrist bands made from rubber elastics are not that comfortable, I do not understand why people would wear them.” He continues.  
            “Why do you?” I ask, before looking down again. “And do not say because I made it, because no one else wears them, knowing I make them, so why do you wear them?” I ask, without looking at him.  
            “Is it not what a friend would do?” He asks.  
            “Yea, well...” I say, my sentence trailing off to nowhere.  
            “I thought we were on friendly terms now. Everyone else seems to believe so.” Alec replies.  
            I didn’t know how to respond. I thought we were friends, but it’s never been confirmed by words before, and if everyone else  _thinks_  the two of us are friends, it shouldn’t matter what I said in reply. I guess because I’ve never been good at making friends, my history being Melissa before having found friends in Max, Den and Lina. I was scared to make friendships official by saying it.  
            “Yeah, I guess we’re friends.” I reply, still not looking at him, not really wanting to now. I knew my face was red, and I didn’t want him to see that, I didn’t want anyone to see it.  
           So then, to have a reason to avoid looking at him, I went to go get my elastics to continue making the hat I was currently working on, though it wasn’t looking anything like a hat.  
            I sat there at the table in the living room, working on it for about twenty minutes before I heard a new voice.  
            “What’s that you’re working on?” Lina asks.  
            I turn to look at her, before looking down. “A hat, made with rubber elastics.” I reply, without looking at her.  
            “That looks like Rainbow Looms.” Lina says, sitting next to me.  
            I look over at her, confused with what she called them. “Is that what they are? Every package has something different on it, I never know the real name for them, yet they all do the same thing.” I say, looking at her as she nods.  
            “Yep, I went to day camp with my cousin over the summer, and we did it, and even the leaders called them Rainbow Looms.” Lina replies and she looks at my hat.  
            It was then that I saw her arm. “What happened?” I ask.  
            “What do you-” She starts before seeing me look at her arm. “Oh, uh, you’re grandpa said it was broken, so he made a cast. You were right. He does have a lot of doctor supplies here.” She says.  
            “It wasn’t broken earlier today. What happened?” I ask, looking at her.  
            “Nothing happened. You don’t need to worry about it. it’s for me to deal with.” She says, before picking up some of the rubber elastics to look at them. “These are the good ones, they won’t break as easy. They cost way more than the normal elastics though.” She says, changing the topic.  
            “Yea, the other ones kept breaking because I would stretch them too much.” I say, looking down again.  
            “You are Alex’s friend.” I hear, before looking up, completely forgetting that Alec was even in the room.  
            “Yea, I’m Lina, and you are?” She asks, her voice guarded, and her face composed.  
            “I am Alec.” Alec replies, picking up on her reaction to him.  
            “Oh, okay. Um, Alex, I need to go home, is it okay if I call my dad to get me.” Lina asks me.  
            “My dad can drive you home. He was going to anyway.” I reply, working on my hat. And with his hearing, he knew I mentioned him, because it was then that my dad walked in.  
            “You ready to go home?” My dad asks Lina.  
            “Yea, but I can call my dad to get me.” She says,  
            “I was on my way into town anyway, come on, go get your stuff.” My dad replies.  
            Lina looks at him for a second, before standing up, and walking off towards the front door.  
            I then move to put all my rubber elastics in their container, and then stand up, about to go get my stuff when my dad grabs hold of my shoulder.  
            “You are staying here Alex.” He says, and I look at him confused.  
            “Why? Aren’t we leaving?” I ask.  
            “I am. I am bringing your friend home, and then I am going to go out for a bit, and will be back to get you.” He says.  
            “Where are you going?” I ask, looking at him.  
            “Out, so sit, work on your crafts, I’ll be back in a few hours.” He says, before walking out of the room, leaving me standing there confused.  
            I sigh, before sitting to work on my hat again, giving it my focus, so I do not feel the nerves so much. I don’t like that my dad was leaving without me, but I am powerless to say otherwise. So I sit here, working on my stupid elastic hat.  
            “What will you do with the hat?” I hear, and I don’t turn around to answer.  
            “Put it with all my other stuff I made. No one wants them, and this keeps me calm when I get mad, so I am simply going to put it with the other stuff I’ve made.” I say, focusing on making my hat.  
            I was working for about fifteen minutes when there was a knock on the door, so I stood up and went to answer it, ignoring as Alec told me not to. I wanted to know who was here, so I went to answer the door.  
            But, when I opened it, I had to step back, as I sure as hell wasn’t expecting to see who I saw, my eyes widened as I called out.  
            “Grandpa!” I call, not turning away from the door.  
            “Who is it?” I hear as my grandpa comes down the stairs, making me turn around to see when he comes into the front foyer.  
            “It’s mom.” I say, looking back to face the door, just as everyone who was currently in the house, was now in the front foyer.


End file.
